Pneumatic player mechanism.



F. C. WHITE.

PNEUMATIC PLAYER MECHANISM.- APPLICATION nuzn MAY 15, 1915.

d mgemioz, I

351 (ltl'omnw myru THE COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH 421m WASHINGTON. D. c.

cum n srA rEs PATENT OFFICE.

rnANKo. WHITE, or iviearnem'oonnnorrour. ASSIGNOR 'IO 'rrnsv WILCOX & WHITE COMPANY, or MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT, 'A CORPORATION'OF CONNECTICUT.

fNEUMATIC PLAYER MECHANISM.

Toallwhom it may concern. 7

-Be it knowntliat I, FRANK C. -Wiarrma citizen of the United States of America, residing at Meriden, NewHaven'c-ounty, Connecticut, have invented-a new and useful Pneumatic Player Mechanism, of which the following is a specification. 7

My inventionrelates to pneumatic muslc.

. playing instruments, and particularly to regulating and controlling means whereby the tension of air in the action chest may be varied at will Whenever it is'desired to vary the degree offorce with which the notes are to be struck whether the same be solo notes or accompaniment notes.

The invention in its automatic in action."

In the accompanying drawing I have preferred form is shown my invention by means of a view moved'by a governor regulator pneumatic 6.

71is a spring for distending the regulator bellows 6. I 1 r 8 is a duct leading from the interior of the regulator pneumatic 6 to the interior of the casing .9.

regulator pneumatic 12;

10 is a valved passage or port in one wall of the casing 9.

11 ,is a throttle valve arranged'to control the port 10, the said valve heing movable by a second governor regulator pneumatic 12.

18 is a spring arranged to distend the 14: is a port leading from the regulator pneumatic12 to the section or chamber 15 of the action chest. o

It will now be seen that the regulators 6 and 12 are. arranged in series between the eXhauster 1 and the action chest section 15, the purposes and advantages of which will later be described,

Specification of Letters Patent.

is are shown in elevation and Patented Jan. 18, 1916.

4 Application filed May 15, 1915. Serial No. 28,250;

l6'represents a tracker having the usual note perforations or ducts 17 therein.

18 1s a duct therein the function of which is to select solo ormelody notes so that when the solo notes or' perforations in the music roll (not shown) register with the perforations 17 such notes may be struck with a relatively increased vigor so as to sound. out i above the accompaniment notes. The duct 18 leads to a normally collapsed pouch pneumatio 19 which is capable, when distended, of opening a valve 20 which normally closes a shunt passage from the'interior' of casing pable of opening a valve 26 which normally closes another shunt passage from the in terior of chamber 9 to the interior of the regulator pneumatic 12. This last mentioned duct, pouch pneumatic and shunt valve may be duplicated, and in the drawings I have shown three sets in all, the dupli-- cated sets being indicated at 24, 25 and 26,

24: 25 and 26 respectively. f

27 is a duct in the tracker leading to a normally closed pouch pneumatic 2S capable of opening a valve 29 which normally closes a shunt passage from the interior of casing?) to theinterior of the regulator pneumatic i This duct, pouch pneumatic and shunt valve,

may likewise be dupli'catedcas shown. In I this instance, four sets are shown, the ducts; being respectively indicated at 27, 2 27 and 27, the pouch pneumatics at 28, 28 28 and 28, the shunt valves at 29, 29229 and 29.

30 is a casing corresponding tofthecasing'9. 1 i 7 31 is a governor regulator pneumatlc cor:

responding to the governor regulator pneu matic 12.

32 is a spring spring 18.

83 is a passage or the duct 14.

corresponding to the The pneumatic regulator 31 and its 'a-sso duct corresponding to" ciated parts are intended to control the tension of air within the chamber 3 1 of the action chest, in the same manner as the regulator pneumatic712 controls the tension in the section 15 thereof. The interior of the regulator pneumatic 31 may have a throttle and shunt valves corresponding to the valves within the regulator pneumatic 12, and the valve therein corresponding to shunt valve is controlled from a tracker duct 35 whereby when solo notes are to occur in the bass section, the duct will be opened so as to function in the base section in the same manner as the valve 20 will function in the treble section. The tracker ducts 2-l241- and 2 1 may have branches indicated at 2 1.

, 24 and 24 which lead to valves in the regulator pneumatic 31 corresponding to valves 26+26 and 26 in the regulator pneumatic 12.

Having now described the various parts of the apparatus, I will now proceed to describe the operation. iit will be understood at the outset that the striker pneumatics, or action pneumatics (not shown) are associated with the action chest 34- 15, and that the degree of force with which said striker Pneumatics operate is determined by the degree of air tension within the action chest at the moment said striker pneumatic acts. Since the particular form of the striker pneumatic is well understood and its connection with the other parts of the instrument is also well understood, it is unnecessary to either show or describe the same herein, particularly as no novelty is ascribed thereto.

I will first describe the course of air from the section 15 of the action chest to the exhauster, and what normally occurs, and what may be caused to occur automatically. Air from the action chest 15 passes through branch 1 1 through the regulator pneumatic l2 and valved passage 10 to and through main duct 8 into the regulator pneumatic 6; thence through the valved passage 1 and thence to the exhauster 1 through duct 2.

The regulators 6 and 12 are preferably adjusted so that they will normally control the a r tenslon at ditlerent degrees of pressure. F or example, the sprin 13 1s so adjusted that the air tension in the action chest section 15 will be controlled or maintained 11012 mally at its lowest point, so as to secure for example pianissimo effect. The spring 7 for the regulator pneumatic 6 is so adjusted that (were it not for the regulator 12), it Would'regulate and norm-ally maintain in the action chest section 15, a somewhat higher degree of air tension to secure, for example, the piano effect. By this setting of the regulators, it is obvious that if the regulator 12 is in effect momentarily cut out, the air tension in the chest 15 would be for such moment or period maintained at the action chest section 15 in direct communication with the regulator 6, whereby any note then struck Wlll be sounded at an increased tenslon, for example, at piano tension. Thus b momentaril openin 'valve 20 the solo or melody notes may be caused to sound with one degree more vigor than such notes would be sounded with if the valve 20 were closed. If a still higher degree of vigor is desired, the duct 27 may be opened simultaneously with the duct 18, thus not only opening valve 20 in the regulator 12, but also valve 29 in the re ulator 6. The opening of the latter valve steps up one degree more the tension in the regulator (3, and, hence, in the action section 15. The solo note may be struck with still more vigor by simultaneously opening ducts 18, 27 and 27, and yet still more by opening the ducts aforesaid and duct 27 and 27.

Since the ducts 27 to 27 control the valves 29 to 29 in the regulator 6, and since this regulator is in common to the regulators 12 and 31, it follows that whenever a solo note is to occur in the bass section 34 of the action, the solo note is selected by the duct instead of the duct 18, and the same valves 29 to 29 may be opened singly or in groups to determine the exact degree of force with which the solo note is to be struck. Should a so-called crash effect he desired at any time in one section, say section 15, the ducts 18 and 21 would be simultaneously flushed to open the preferably larger shunt valves 20 and If the crash effect were desired in the bass, the tracker ducts 35 and 21 would be simultaneously opened. If the crash eifect were desired in the entire action chest, the tracker ducts 18, 35 and 21 would be simultaneously opened.

I have not only provided means for sounding solo notes with the desired added vigor, but I have also employed means for automatically increasing the degree of force with which the accompaniment notes may be struck and to this end I have provided shunt valves 26, 26 and 26 in the regulator pneumatic 12, and corresponding valves in'the regulator pneumatic 31, which valves may be opened lay uncovering the tracker ducts 2-1, 24 and so. It follows that the uncovering of the duct 2 1 for example will let air pass somewhat more freely through both re ulator pneumatics 12 and 31, and hence a corresponding increase in tension will occur in the action chest section 15 and 31, which may be still further increased by opening the valves 2e and 2 1". By this comparatively simple arrangement, perforated note sheets may be readily produced with perforations therein so arranged as to automatically control the degree of force with which any or all of the notes shall be struck, and it is important that for the purpose of selecting solo notes, the selector perforations for notes in the treble sectionare in one line, and the same is true of the selector perforations for notes in the bass section, the other ex ression controlling perforations being ad ed whenever required.

It will be understood of course that my new system of control may be availed of by the use of apparatus which may be substantially modified from that shown and described herein, without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

What'I claimist a 1. In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system comprising a chamber from which air is'to be exhausted, an exhauster, a wind-way leading from the former to the latter, and two'governor regulator pneumatics arranged in series in said wind vay and means for controlling one of said regulator pneumatics to vary its tension regulating effect.

In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system comprising a chamber from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster, a wind-way leading from the former to the latter, and two governor regulator pneumatics arranged in series in said wind-way, a tracker board, a normally closed shunt passage for one of said regulators with means controllable from the tracker for opening said shunt passage.

3. In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system comprising a chamber from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster, a wind-way leading from the former to the latter, and two-governor regulator pneumatics arranged in series in said wind-way,one of said regulator pneumatics being arranged to offer normally greater re sistance to the-passage ofair than the other I regulator, the regulator offering the greater resistance being nearer to the chamber from which air is to be exhausted.

4:. In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system comprising a chamber from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster, a wind-way leading from the former to the latter, two governor regulator pneumatics arranged in series in said windway and normally operating to partially throttle the'passage of air from said chamher to said exhauster, and a normally closed shunt passage to modify the action of one of the regulators, with means for opening and closing said shunt passage at will.

- 5. In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system comprising a chamber from which airis to'be exhausted, an exhauster, a windway'le'ading from the former to the latter, twogovernor regulator pneumati'cs arranged'in series in said windway and normally operating to partially throttle the passage of air ifrom said chamber to said exhauster, and a normally closed shunt passage to modify the action of one of the regulators, with means for openingand closing said shunt passage at will, said means comprising apneumatic, a tracker board having a duct leading'to the last mentioned pneumatic to control the same.

(i. Ina pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system comprising the chamber from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster, a wind-way leading from the former to the latter, two governor regulator air tension regulating system comprising the. chamber from which air 1s to be exhausted,

an exhauster, a wind-way leading from the former to the latter, two governor regulator pneulnatics arranged in series in said windway, a shunt passage for each of said regulators, and means for opening and closing said shunt passages independently or simultaneously, the regulatornearest the chamberto be exhausted being arranged to effect a different tension from the other regulator.

8. In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system comprisinga chamber from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster, a wind-way leading from the former to the latter, two governor regulator pneumatics arranged in series in said windway, each regulator including a throttle valve for the wind-way controlled as to its position by the degree to which said regulator is collapsed.

9. In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system comprising a chamber from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster, a wind-way leading from the former to the latter, two governor regulator pneumatics arranged in series in said windway, each regulator including a throttle valve for the wind-way controlled asto its position by the degree to which said regulator is collapsed, the regulator nearest the chamber to be exhausted being arranged to offer greater resistance to the passage of air through the wind-way than the other regulater, a shunt passage for the wind-way ad-' jacent to the regulator nearest said chamber, and means for opening and closing said shunt passage at will.

10. In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system comprising a chamber from which air is to be exhausted,

an exhaust-er, a wind-way leading from the former to the latter, two governor regulator pneumatics arranged'in series in said windway, each regulator including a throttle valve for the wind-way controlled as to its position by the degree to which said regulator is collapsed, the regulator nearest the chamber to be exhausted being arranged to otter greater resistance to the passage of air through the wind-way than the other regulator, a shunt passage for the wind-way adj acent to the regulator nearest said chamber, and means for opening and closing said shunt passage at will, and a plurality of shunt passages for the regulator nearest the exhauster, with means for opening simultaneously the shunt passage in the first mentioned regulator and one or more of the shunt passa es in the second mentioned regulator.

11. In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system comprising a chamber from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster, a wind-way leading from the former to the latter, two governor regulator pneumatics arranged in series in said windway, each regulator including a. throttle valve for the Wind-way controlled as to its position by the degree to which said regulator is collapsed, the regulator nearest the chamber to be exhausted being arranged to offer greater resistance to the passage of air through the wind-way than the other regulator, a shunt passage for the wind-way adjacent to the regulator nearest said chamber, and means for opening and closing said shunt passage at will, and a plurality of shunt passages for the regulator nearest the exhauster, with means for opening simultaneously the shunt passage in the first mentioned regulator and one or more of the shunt passages in the second mentioned regulator, said means including pneumatics, a tracker board and ducts leading therefrom to said pneumatics to control the same.

12. In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system comprising a chamber from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster, a wind-way leading from the former to the latter, two governor regulator pneumatics arranged in series in said wind vay, a movable tension governing valvein said wind-Way for each of said regulators tending to partially throttle the passage of air from the chamber to the exhauster, a plurality of shunt passages for each of said regulators, with means for opening and closing any of said shunt passages at will.

13. In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulatin system comprising a chamber from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster, a wind-way leading -from the former to the latter, two governor regulator pneumatics arranged in series in said Windway, a movable tension governing valve in said wind-way for each of said regulators tending to partially throttle the passage of air from the chamber to the exhauster, a

plurality of shunt passages for each of said regulators, with means for opening and closing any of said shunt passages at will, including pneumatics, and a tracker board having ducts leading respectively to said pneumatics and arranged to control the operation oi the same as said tracker ducts are opened or closed.

let. In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system including a plurality of chambers from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster, a main windway having branches connecting said exhauster with the chambers to be exhausted, an air tension governor regulator in each of said branches tending to partially throttle the passage of air therethrough, an air tension regulator in the main wind-way, also tending to throttle the passage of air therethrough, the last mentioned tension regulator being arranged in series with each of the two first mentioned regulators.

15. In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system including a plurality of chambers from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster, a main windway having branches connecting said exhauster with the chambers to be exhausted, an air tension governor regulator in each of said branches tending to partially throttle the passage of air therethrough, an air tension regulator in the main wind-way also tending to throttle the passage of air therethrough, the last mentioned tension regulator being arranged in series with each of the two first mentioned regulators, the two first mentioned regulators being arranged to offer greater resistance to the passage of air through their respective branches than does the regulator in said main wind-way.

16. In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system including a plurality of chambers from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster, a main windway having branches connecting said eX- hauster with the chambers to be exhausted, an air tension governor regulator in each of said branches tending to partially throttle the passage of air therethrough, an air tension regulator in the main wind-way also tending to throttle the passage of air therethrough, the last mentioned tension regulator being arranged in series with each of the two first mentioned regulators, the two first mentioned regulators being arranged to ofier greater resistance to the passage of air through their respective branches than does the regulator in said main wind vay, a shunt passage for each of the regulators in said branches, and means for opening and closing each of said shunt passages.

17. In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system including a plurality of chambers from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster, a main Windway arranged in series with each of the'two first mentionedregulators, the two first mentioned regulators being arranged to ofier greater resistance to the passage of air through their respective branches, than does the regulator in said main wind-Way, a shunt passage for each of theregulators in said branches, and means for opening and closing each of said shunt passages, a tracker board, sa1d opening and closing means being controllable therefrom.

18, In a pneumatic player mechanism, an a1r tension regulating system comprising a plurality of chambers from which air isto 1 be exhausted, an exhauster, a windway connecting said exhauster with said chambers and including branches leading respectively to said chambers from a main passage, a governor regulator pneumatic for the main passage, and a governor regulator pneumatic in each of said branches, said regulators being respectively arranged to partially throttle the passage of air from said chambers to said exhauster, a plurality of shunt passages for all of said regu1ators,with means for opening and closing said shunt passages at will.

19. In a pneumatic player mechanism, an air tension regulating system comprising a plurality of chambers from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster, a windway connecting said exhauster with said chambers and including branches leading respectively to said chambers from a main passage, a governor regulator pneumatic for the main passage, and a governor regulator pneumatic in each of said branches, said regulators being respectively arranged to partially throttle the passage oi air from said chambers to said exhauster, a plurality of shunt passages for all of said regulators, with jmeans for opening and closing said shunt passages at will, a tracker with means controlled therefrom for in turn controlling said shunt passages.

20. In a pneumatic player apparatus, a chamber from which air is to be exhausted, an exhaustertherefor, a wind-way leading from the former to the latter, two pneumatically governed throttles therein, said throttles being arranged in seriesand each arranged to resist the passage of air through said wind-way and normally offering substantially unvarying resistance, and a shunt passage around one of said throttles, with 'means for opening and closing said shunt passage. Y

21. In a. pneumatic player apparatus, a chamber from which air isto be exhausted, an exhauster therefor, a-wind-way leading from the former to the latter, two pneumati cally governed throttles therein, said throttles being arranged in series and each arranged'to resist the passage of air through said wind-way and normally offering substantially unvarying resistance, and shunt passage around each of said throttles, with means for opening and closing said shunt passages.

22. In a pneumatic player apparatus, a.

chamber from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster therefor, a wind-way leading from the former to the latter, two'pneumatically governed throttles therein, said throttles beingarranged in series and each arranged to resist the passage of air through i said wind-way and normally ofiering substantially unvarying resistance, the throttle nearest the chamber to be exhausted being arranged to offer somewhat more resistance than the other throttle, and a shunt passage around'the throttle offering the greater resistance, with means for opening and closing said shunt passage.

23. In a pneumatic player apparatus, a chamber from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster therefor, a wind-way leading from the former to the latter, two pneumatically governed throttles therein, said throttles being arranged in series and each arranged to resist the passage of air through said wind-way and normally ofiering substantially unvarying resistance, the throttle nearest the chamber to be exhausted being arranged to offer somewhat more resistance than the other throttle, and a shunt passage around each of said throttles, with means for opening and closing said shunt passages.

24. In a pneumatic player apparatus, a chamber from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster therefor, a wind-way leading from the former to the latter, two pneumatically governed throttles therein, said throttles being arranged in series and each arranged to resist the passage of air through said wind-way and normally offering substantiallyunvarying resistance, the throttle nearest the chamber to be exhausted being arranged to offer somewhat more resistance than the other throttle, and a plurality of shunt passages around each of said throttles, with means for opening and closing said shunt passages.

25. In a pneumatic player apparatus, two chambers from which air is to be exhausted, an eXhauster therefor, a wind connection between said chambers and said exhauster comprising a main wind-way having two branches connected respectively with said chambers, a pneumatically governed throttle in the main ind-way, a pneumatically gov-' erned throttle in each of said branches, all

of said throttles being arranged to resist the passage of air and to normally ofiter substantially unvarying resistance thereto, the throttle in said main Wind tvay operating in s series with each of the throttles in the branches, a plurality of shunt pass-ages around each of said throttles, with means for opening and closing each of said shunt passages pneumatically, a tracker board, one 101 duct. therein arranged to control one of the shunt passages around one of the branch throttles, and having another duct therein arranged to control one shunt passage around the other branch throttle and hav- 15, ing another duct therein to simultaneously control a shunt passage around each of said branch throttles and having another duct therein arranged to control a shunt passage around the main throttle.

26. In a pneumatic player apparatus, two chambers from which air is to be exhausted, an exhauster therefor, a Wind connection between said chambers and said exhavuster comprising a main wind-Way having two 25-branches connected respectively with said chambers, a pneumatically governed throttle inthe :main Wind-way, a pneumatically: gov I ernedv-throttle-in each of said branches, all

of said throttles being. arranged to resist the passage. of air. and to normally otter-sub stantially 'unvarying resistance thereto, the

foropening and closing each of said shunt passages pneumatically, a tracker board, one duct therein arranged to control one oi: the

shunt passages around one of said bran-ch throttles, and having another: duct therein arranged to control one'shunt passage around the other branch throttle, and having another duct therein arranged to simultaneously control a shunt passage around each of said branch throttles,-and having'a series of ductstherein arranged to control a series of shunt passages aroundthema-in throttle.

FRANK C. WVHITE.

Copies .0: this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressi-ng, the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

